Chapter 384 - 384: Bounty
That same morning in Emerald City,
Sunlight filtered through Jayden's bedroom blinds, pulling him from a deep, restful sleep.
Before he had even sat up, the familiar interface of the System materialized in his vision, delivering his daily summary.
[Subpack members killed multiple targets]
[Total Exp Gained: +3400]
[Exp: 12,090/10,000]
[You have leveled up]
[Level 19 >> Level 20]
[Hp: 980/980]
[Ep: 420/420]
[+2 stat points has been added to all stats]
A rush of warm energy washed through his veins, fortifying his muscles and sharpening his senses.
[Subpack Milestone Reached!]
[New Pack Ability Unlocked: Pack Stat Boost.
*Description: As the Regent Alpha, you may now utilize your own Available Stat Points to directly increase the baseline stats of your Pack members.
——————
Jayden's eyes widened. This would be incredibly useful. He could use his progression to forge his family and his beasts into powerhouses. He made a mental note to experiment with the feature later and boost the girls' survivability.
[You have received 5 Pack slots]
[Current Pack Slots Available: 6]
[Alert! Subpack Maximum Capacity has been increased]
[Maximum Capacity: 10 >> 20]
Jayden exhaled in satisfaction. He now had more than enough room to add Harleen and Jacob to the pack.
Then finally, he glanced at his new progression bar.
[Exp: 2,090/28,000]
Jayden blinked, staring at the number. He was genuinely stunned. The required Exp to hit Level 21 had almost tripled from the previous threshold. It was a massive leap. However, given his daily passive income from his pack beasts's relentless hunting, he wasn't really bothered by it. It would just take a little more time to bridge the gap.
He closed the holographic tabs, slipped out of room, and walked down the hallway to check the attic.
Climbing the wooden ladder, he navigated the dusty boxes to the far corner. Beneath the heavy black blanket, the Winter Wolf was still perfectly encased in the thick, crystalline ice cocoon. Her vital signs were steady, the evolution proceeding uninterrupted.
Satisfied, Jayden returned to his room, brushed his teeth, and pulled on a fresh grey hoodie, ready to jog to the park and knock out his Daily Quest.
But as he pulled his bedroom door open, he stopped dead in his tracks.
Jessica and Tasha were standing shoulder-to-shoulder directly in his doorway.
"Hey," Jayden asked, his brow furrowing in surprise. "What's going on?"
"Have you checked the headlines today?" Jessica asked, her voice tight and trembling slightly.
"No," Jayden frowned, leaning against the doorframe. "What's up?"
Tasha didn't say a word. She simply pulled out her holotab, tapped the screen, and shoved the glowing holographic projection directly into Jayden's face.
The bright red, bolded text of the primary news network screamed across the screen.
[EVA OFFERS A REWARD OF 5000,000 CREDITS FOR THE CAPTURE OF MASKED VIGILANTE]
Jessica looked up at Jayden, her eyes wide with terror. "They put a bounty on your head!"
Jayden was stunned by this news. He stared at the astronomical number of credits, his heart skipping a heavy beat. He didn't think the EVA would go this far, just because he saved a beast.
"Jayden, do you understand what this means?" Jessica continued, her voice tight with panic. "Five million credits. That is enough money to buy a private estate. Every single bounty hunter, hitman, and desperate civilian on the entire continent is going to be hunting you down!"
"She's right," Tasha added, her usually sharp and confident demeanor completely fractured. She lowered the holotab, her eyes wide and terrified. "They aren't just looking for you anymore, Jayden. They are actively incentivizing the whole world to hunt you down. If anyone even suspects who you are... they'll sell you out in a heartbeat."
Jayden stared at the dissipating holographic text for a long, quiet moment. Internally, his mind was already running a thousand calculations, weighing the sudden, massive shift in the board. But externally, he didn't flinch.
He reached out and gently pushed Tasha's holotab down, silencing the blaring news anchor.
"Take a deep breath. Both of you," Jayden said, his voice calm, steady, and laced with the grounding authority of the Regent Alpha.
He stepped out of his bedroom, closing the door behind him, and placed a reassuring hand on each of their shoulders.
"Listen to me," Jayden said, looking them both directly in the eyes. "This changes nothing. The EVA is desperate. They are throwing money at the problem because they have no leads. They put a bounty on the masked vigilante. Not on Jayden Starrk."
"But what if they figure it out?" Jessica argued, her eyes shining with unshed tears. "What if someone trails you back to the house? What if you get hurt and someone unmasks you?"
"They won't," Jayden promised fiercely. "I have an ability that makes me invisible to the naked eye. I have Molecular Intangibility—bullets, plasma, and physical strikes pass right through me. And I can move at Mach 1. Even if every bounty hunter in Atlas comes looking for the Phantom, they can't catch something they can't see, touch, or outrun."
Tasha bit her lower lip, staring at the floorboards. "You're taking this too lightly. It's the EVA, Jayden. They don't just throw half a million credits around unless they are fully committed to bringing a target down. They're going to escalate."
"I'm not taking it lightly, Tasha. I promise you," Jayden replied softly, his thumb gently rubbing Jessica's shoulder to calm her racing pulse. "I know exactly how dangerous this is. But panicking isn't going to help us. I'll just have to be smarter. More careful. I will double-check my routes, I won't operate anywhere near this neighborhood, and I will strictly avoid EVA patrol zones."
He pulled them both into a tight, reassuring hug. "I am not going to let them catch me. And I am definitely not going to let them anywhere near any of you. You have my word."
Jessica buried her face in his hoodie, letting out a shaky exhale, while Tasha hugged him back fiercely.
"You better not," Jessica muttered against his shoulder. "If you get yourself killed, I'm going to bring you back to life and kill you myself."
Jayden chuckled softly, the tension in the hallway finally beginning to dissipate. "Noted."
He stepped back, offering them a confident smile. "Now, I have to go to the park and finish my morning workout. Just act normal today, okay? Watch some TV, play some games. Don't let Jacob or Harleen see you panicking."
"Okay," Tasha nodded. "Just... please be careful today."
"Always," Jayden promised.
He turned and headed down the stairs, slipping out the front door and into the crisp morning air of Emerald City.
As soon as the door clicked shut behind him, the comforting, confident facade he had projected for the girls instantly evaporated. His jaw tightened, and his eyes hardened into a cold, calculating stare.
Tasha was right. The EVA wouldn't authorize a half-million credit bounty if they weren't planning to take this lightly. They were definitely furious about the Winter Wolf incident. The game had just been elevated from a localized manhunt to a continental state of emergency. He couldn't afford a single slip-up anymore. One lingering drop of blood, one caught reflection on a security camera, and an army of super-powered agents would descend on his home.
He broke into a steady, rhythmic jog, heading toward the sprawling greenery of the city park to complete his System-mandated lifts and climbing quests. The morning traffic was beginning to pick up. Hover-cars zoomed past on the elevated rails, and civilians were walking their dogs along the sidewalks.
To them, he was just an athletic teenager out for a morning run. None of them knew they were walking past a walking goldmine.
As he jogged, Jayden reached into the deep pocket of his sweatpants and pulled out his holotab He needed to contact Fred immediately. He needed to know what the hell was going on inside the agency, what the EVA's next move was, and how Fred planned to run interference on a bounty of this magnitude.
He unlocked the device, bypassing the biometric security protocols.
But as the screen illuminated, he paused. He didn't need to type out a message.
There was already an unread, priority-encrypted text waiting for him on the home screen. It had been sent just a few minutes prior.
Jayden slowed his jog to a walking pace, his brow furrowing. He tapped the notification, opening the secure channel and reading the message.
[We need to talk, kid]
Jayden stared at the four words, a cold, heavy sense of foreboding washing over him. Fred was a man of immense detail; he usually provided coordinates, specific warnings, or target profiles. A vague, ominous message like this meant the situation was far more complicated—and far worse—than a simple bounty.
Jayden quickly typed out a response, his thumbs flying across the digital keyboard.
[You took the words right out of my keyboard. What's really going on?]
Then he sent the message and waited, watching the blinking cursor on the screen. A few seconds later, the encrypted channel indicated that Fred was typing. A while later, a message appeared.
[Let's meet up at the usual spot. We can have a proper discussion there]
Jayden replied [Okay] then closed the screen. Then he pocketed the tab and left the park, heading towards the diner in the outskirts of the city.